4 ms·

Gambling in the gaming world is even more prominent on Twitch and it's not even pretending to be gaming related anymore. An incognito screenshot of Twitch I ca

Gambling in the gaming world is even more prominent on Twitch and it's not even pretending to be gaming related anymore. An incognito screenshot of Twitch I captured just now https://i.imgur.com/fgXDAHB.png https://i.imgur.com/fgXDAHB.png - The biggest streamer on the platform is currently streaming real money (crypto) online Slots gambling to 100k+ viewers, and a second streamer in the top 5 category is also streaming Slots. Supposedly these streamers make millions per month from these gaming sponsorships to pretend to lose their own money in order to convince their already primed audience to become addicts to these same sites. Children brought up on gaming have been conditioned into becoming the perfect audience for unregulated crypto gambling companies to advertise to and ruin their lives

api 4y ago
My take on cryptocurrency has become: it’s also all gambling, and for that reason I no longer think there is any chance of it going to zero. Absent regulation there is a simply massive market for gambling. It’s shameless exploitation but people will do it (on both ends). Most of this stuff is actually worse than casinos. Casinos have a social component, employ people, and are often at least a little regulated so that the odds can’t be absolutely 100% toward the house. Also you win actual money not a virtual game item.
- skohan 4y ago
  Long term, Casinos absolutely have odds slanted toward the house. With the exception of a very few games, like blackjack, which can be effectively gamed, a gambler will statistically be guaranteed to go broke as the number of games approaches infinity.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    That’s true of pit and slots games, but there are people who make a living playing poker in casinos. (It’s a player-vs-player hosted game with the casino taking a rake or seat charge rather than a player-vs-house game.)
    - paxys 4y ago
      Some difference in the mechanics, but the overall concept is the same. An individual player might be able to win money in poker (with some combination of luck and skill), but a group of players will always lose to the house.
      - GavinMcG 4y ago
        Poker isn't played as a group. The "overall concept" is whether an individual player can profit over the long run, and in poker but not (say) roulette, the answer is yes. Your approach reminded me of a joke: Three statisticians go deer hunting with bows and arrows. They spot a big buck and take aim. One shoots and his arrow flies off three meters to the right. The second shoots and his arrow flies off three meters to the left. The third statistician jumps up and down, yelling "We got him! We got him!"
- dylan604 4y ago
  >My take on cryptocurrency has become: it’s also all gambling I have the same feeling towards the stock market. Sure, it can be well researched information on the stock in question, but it's all a bet your interpretation of that stock is right.
  - neogodless 4y ago
    In other investments, you can pick an asset allocation, buy index funds of each asset, dollar cost over time, rebalance, invest over a long time. Maybe some of that is available now with crypto? Index funds? But with how heavily the bigger cryptocurrencies are price-correlated, I don't think you get good intra-asset diversification benefits. Personally within my asset allocation, crypto is a tiny fraction of a percent.
  - api 4y ago
    If you are doing much other than value investing long term you are gambling.
  - jules 4y ago
    The stock market can be gambling, but if you put money in an index fund and don't look at it for 30 years, that's psychologically and financially very different from gambling.
  - Archelaos 4y ago
    The difference is that the expectation value is positive.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      Which one are saying then that the expectation is not positive?
balefrost 4y ago
Münecat made a pretty good video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGfW5U7d8sc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGfW5U7d8sc
weberer 4y ago
I remember before 2005 or so, the term "gaming" was exclusively used by casinos. We've come full circle.
lupire 4y ago
Why aren't they pretending to win money? Is losing money so attractive?

api 4y ago

My take on cryptocurrency has become: it’s also all gambling, and for that reason I no longer think there is any chance of it going to zero. Absent regulation there is a simply massive market for gambling. It’s shameless exploitation but people will do it (on both ends). Most of this stuff is actually worse than casinos. Casinos have a social component, employ people, and are often at least a little regulated so that the odds can’t be absolutely 100% toward the house. Also you win actual money not a virtual game item.

skohan 4y ago
Long term, Casinos absolutely have odds slanted toward the house. With the exception of a very few games, like blackjack, which can be effectively gamed, a gambler will statistically be guaranteed to go broke as the number of games approaches infinity.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  That’s true of pit and slots games, but there are people who make a living playing poker in casinos. (It’s a player-vs-player hosted game with the casino taking a rake or seat charge rather than a player-vs-house game.)
  - paxys 4y ago
    Some difference in the mechanics, but the overall concept is the same. An individual player might be able to win money in poker (with some combination of luck and skill), but a group of players will always lose to the house.
    - GavinMcG 4y ago
      Poker isn't played as a group. The "overall concept" is whether an individual player can profit over the long run, and in poker but not (say) roulette, the answer is yes. Your approach reminded me of a joke: Three statisticians go deer hunting with bows and arrows. They spot a big buck and take aim. One shoots and his arrow flies off three meters to the right. The second shoots and his arrow flies off three meters to the left. The third statistician jumps up and down, yelling "We got him! We got him!"
dylan604 4y ago
>My take on cryptocurrency has become: it’s also all gambling I have the same feeling towards the stock market. Sure, it can be well researched information on the stock in question, but it's all a bet your interpretation of that stock is right.
- neogodless 4y ago
  In other investments, you can pick an asset allocation, buy index funds of each asset, dollar cost over time, rebalance, invest over a long time. Maybe some of that is available now with crypto? Index funds? But with how heavily the bigger cryptocurrencies are price-correlated, I don't think you get good intra-asset diversification benefits. Personally within my asset allocation, crypto is a tiny fraction of a percent.
- api 4y ago
  If you are doing much other than value investing long term you are gambling.
- jules 4y ago
  The stock market can be gambling, but if you put money in an index fund and don't look at it for 30 years, that's psychologically and financially very different from gambling.
- Archelaos 4y ago
  The difference is that the expectation value is positive.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Which one are saying then that the expectation is not positive?

balefrost 4y ago

Münecat made a pretty good video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGfW5U7d8sc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGfW5U7d8sc

weberer 4y ago

I remember before 2005 or so, the term "gaming" was exclusively used by casinos. We've come full circle.

lupire 4y ago

Why aren't they pretending to win money? Is losing money so attractive?